Going home for the Chinese New Year with a year-end bonus of 100 million

As he rode his electric scooter through the bustling city center, he would normally be racing against time to grab and deliver orders, weaving through traffic for a few dollars in delivery fees.

All this was so that he could buy Su Wanrou a decent gift at the end of the month, or treat her to a "budget restaurant" that she "occasionally wants to try" with an average price of three or four hundred yuan per person.

Now?

Fuck it!

Right now, all he wants to do is get back to his rented room, get rid of this facade, and go out and spend some money.

Wasn't a year of forbearance and perseverance all for this moment?

He lives in an urban village because the rent there is only 300 yuan a month.

The power lines tangled like a spider web between the low-rise buildings, leaning and twisting precariously.

Several old cement utility poles stand by the roadside, covered with all sorts of tattered posters advertising "high-price recycling," "drain cleaning," and "cure psoriasis."

He parked his car downstairs in a six-story self-built building. The stairwell was dark, and the motion-activated light was probably broken again. He coughed several times before the dim light bulb reluctantly flickered, barely illuminating the steep concrete steps beneath his feet.

The room on the third floor, the one furthest inside, was where he lived.

He took out his key and opened the thin metal door, and a smell mixed with mold, instant noodles and dust rushed out.

The room was pitifully small; a single bed, a peeling table, and a simple cloth wardrobe almost filled the entire space.

The windows weren't closed properly, and cold air seeped in through the cracks, making me shiver with cold at night.

The toilets and showers are on the first floor and are shared; there are queues during rush hour...

Yang Fan stood at the door, not going in immediately.

A year ago, he came here with his suitcase, thinking that he could settle down here temporarily and things would get better in the future.

But "Later" never came. Instead, in order to play the role of Su Wanrou's "exclusive lapdog," he poured all the money and time he could spare into it, and living here became a compromise, which lasted for a year and a half.

"Tsk." He shook his head, stepped into the house, and closed the door behind him.

It's colder inside than outside.

There was no heating, no air conditioning; the only source of heat was a small electric heater.

But it consumes a lot of electricity, so he doesn't want to keep it on all the time.

He walked to the cloth wardrobe, unzipped it, and saw several pieces of clothing hanging inside, mostly cheap fast fashion brands or unknown brands bought online, all of which were a bit faded from washing.

The only decent suit I own was bought for my college interview, and now it's a bit tight.

He took off his chilly delivery jacket, changed into a thicker sweater, and then put on a down jacket. But the cold still seeped up from the cement floor, seeping into his bones.

"I can't stand this godforsaken place for even a day longer."

He looked around the cramped rented room, and a thought popped into his head with crystal clarity:

Change locations! Immediately! Right now!

With 100 million yuan lying in the bank, it's more than enough to buy a large apartment or even a villa in the best location in the city, let alone rent it out.

No more musty smells, no more waking up freezing in the middle of the night, no more having to time your toilet break with fear of someone knocking on the door and urging you to hurry up.

He picked up his phone, his finger already tapping the rental and sales app, and even subconsciously swiping towards the "luxury apartments" and "boutique residences" sections that he would never have dared to open before.

The picture shows a bright and clean room with brand-new furniture, and a dazzling city view outside the floor-to-ceiling windows... a world apart from his current cramped apartment.

My heart is beating a little faster.

But just as he was about to contact the agent, his fingers froze.

"Calm down, Yang Fan, calm down," he said to himself, his voice sounding a bit out of place in the empty little house.

"You may be rich, but that doesn't mean you've lost your mind."

He knew nothing about the housing market.

Which location is good?

Which apartment layout is suitable?

Are house prices rising or falling now?

What pitfalls should be avoided?

He was completely clueless. He had a huge sum of money in his hands, but if he went in like a fool and got slaughtered, that would be a real joke.

and……

It's already the 20th of the twelfth lunar month.

I'm going home for the Chinese New Year soon, and I'll only be staying for five or six days at most.

He figured it wasn't worth the trouble of finding a place and moving now, not to mention the time constraints and having to deal with all this junk...

We'll talk about it when we get back from the New Year.

Now that we have the money and time, we can take our time looking and choose carefully. We can buy a house of our own and bring our parents over to visit.

But these past few days, he absolutely did not want to stay in this drafty, dilapidated house for another second.

Just then, an idea popped into his mind!

"hotel."

Yes, let's go to a hotel and get a room.

Clean, warm, with 24-hour hot water, a comfortable bed, and no need to clean yourself.

It's a bit pricey, but do we still care about that little bit of money now?

Stay until you go home!

Once he understood this, he immediately felt a sense of relief.

I no longer find the room so unbearable; instead, I feel a sense of relief, as if I'm about to escape from this sea of ​​suffering.

He plans to go home around the 25th of the twelfth lunar month.

Over the next few days, I'll take good care of myself, buy some decent clothes, get a haircut, and pamper my face after a year of exposure to the elements.

More importantly—buy a car!

When people go home for the Chinese New Year, especially in small towns like theirs, a car is a status symbol and the most direct representation of one's strength.

Over the years, he hasn't made a name for himself and doesn't even dare to go back home for the New Year. Who knows what the villagers will say behind his back? His parents probably won't be able to hold their heads high in the village.

This year, we must return in glory!

Driving a nice car and parking it right in front of your own yard has a better effect than anything else.

"That's what we'll do!"

Without further hesitation, he acted swiftly.

Pack your ID card, bank cards, phone charger, and other essentials into a backpack.

As for the bedding, pots and pans, and cheap clothes in the room... he glanced at them and decided he didn't want most of them.

If you can't take it with you, you can deal with it when you come back after the New Year or just throw it away.

With his bag slung over his shoulder, Yang Fan took one last look at the small room he had lived in for a year, and closed the door without a second thought.

The lock clicked softly, as if putting an end to a period of obscurity.

He went downstairs, but didn't ride his electric scooter again, mainly because it was too cold.

Walk out of the intricate alleys of the urban village and arrive at the slightly more bustling main street.

There was a chain hotel not far away, and its facade looked quite clean and bright.

He used to deliver food and just passed by here, never imagining that one day he would go in and stay in a hotel.

Pushing open the hotel's glass door, a warm, subtle fragrance wafted out. The receptionist, dressed in uniform, looked up and gave a professional smile.

"Hello sir, do you need to check in?"

"Okay, I'll get a room." Yang Fan walked to the front desk and handed over his ID card.

"What type of room would you like? We have king rooms, twin rooms, and business suites, with prices as follows..."

"Let's have a double room then," Yang Fan said before she could give him a detailed price quote.

"Okay, how many days will you be staying?"

"Stay for five days, from today until the 25th of the twelfth lunar month," Yang Fan calculated the days.

The receptionist made a few adjustments on the computer and smiled:

"Okay, sir. Five nights in a double room, including breakfast, the total price after discount is 2740 yuan."

"How do I pay?"

Two thousand yuan, in the past, would have been more than half a month's rent for him, or enough to buy Su Wanrou a light luxury brand scarf that she "saw by chance and thought was nice".

He must hesitate and feel heartache.

But now, he remained expressionless, even experiencing a strange sense of pleasure.

He took out his bank card: "Swipe card."

"OK."

Swipe the card, sign—all in one smooth motion.